Rikku's Key
by Dragontwin
Summary: Rikku's off to save the world again as she is accidently invovled in unleashing a powerful fiend! Not only that, but Gippal thinks he's falling for Rikku, does she feel the same way? RikkuGippal. Please R
1. Treasure Hunt

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X-2!

He stared intently upon the young girl that so ideally dug into the sand. She was so innocent and oblivious to the world around her. He had seen her at the Bikanel camp site and instantly knew she would lead him to what he sought. So many years ago he had seen her with the key to unlock his long awaited power. He had been searching for it for years but the prophecy held him back from taking it. Only one would be able to activate it and somehow he knew she would be the one. He had followed her out into the desert and she was unaware of his presence as he waited and watched for her to find his long awaited prize. This girl was the one that would finally bring him to the power to conquer all!

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku wiped the sweat from her brow as she stared at the raging hot sun. Now that the Gullwings had saved the world and Tidus was reunited with them, Rikku had decided to go back to Bikanel desert and work. Their new Home was almost finished being built and she loved to see the fast process her father, Cid, and the Al Bhed were making with it.

Today, she had taken a hover craft out to the Easter Expanse alone. She hoped she could earn a little money from any machina is found and getting some much needed alone time.

She had tons of stuff to do with the Al Bhed; they never failed to keep her busy but lately she found that something seemed to be lacking in her perfect world. Rikku was sure it had to do with the fact that Tidus was back and Yuna was on cloud nine and she had left Rikku. Rikku was starting to feel left out and she really want to experience the love Yuna and Tidus seemed to share. Even Rikku noticed that Paine and Baralai were getting something going on.

Not that she hadn't been dating. Oh boy, she had. There had been Lucas, a few others that she couldn't remember there names...Evander, whom she had just broken up with two weeks ago but they just didn't make her feel the way Yunie described love to be. Rikku tried to push the thoughts from her mind. Self pity didn't suit her.

Moving to another spot in the white sand, she slowly began digging again. All morning she had had no luck at finding anything and she had been hoping to find something before lunch time.

Her small hands dug into the sand, the gritty specks getting in-between her finger nails.

"Come one, come on; there must be something out in this desert!" she muttered to herself but still found nothing.

Giving up she flopped down into the sand, forgetting everything else and enjoying the sun sneaking down her spine.

"Rikku? Rikku? Are you coming in soon? It's almost time to eat," a voice rang on her communicator. It was Nhadala.

As if on cue, her stomach rumbled.

Rikku licked her lips. Food sounded really good at the moment.

"Be there soon." She replied.

Heaving herself up and out of the sand, she brushed herself off and began walking to her hover craft. Humming to herself and wondering what they would have for lunch, she noticed the slight change in the air.

As her feet pushed through the sand, her right foot made contact with metal.

"Owie!" Rikku cried, grabbing her foot and jumping up and down. What had she hit?

Glancing down, she spotted a tip of shiny metal sticking out of the sand.

Oh! Something shiny! What kind of machina had she finally been lucky enough to find?

Hastily and excitedly she began digging the object out of the sand to find it was a small rectangular silver box. It had a strange looking indent on the front that looked like a cross but Rikku found that it had circular gadgets all around the box.

Curious as always she rotated one. She jumped a little as the other gears began clicking and rotating. Suddenly it stopped and nothing happened. She shook it but heard nothing. Was there anything valuable in this box?

"Pouie," Rikku muttered in disappointment. "Maybe it needs a key to go with it."

Placing her new box to the side she began to shovel around in the sand, but didn't find anything else.

"Rikku? Are you coming? What's taking you so long?" she heard Nhadala voice asked.

"Sorry! I found something really cool!" Rikku informed her.

"Well then," Nhadala voice said, somewhat annoyed. "Come back then and we'll look at it."

"Someone's touchie," Rikku muttered.

"I heard that!" Nhadala said and Rikku flinched but managed to giggle. "I don't know who let you but you shouldn't be out there alone."

"She's not." A dark voice said and a shadow loomed behind her.

Rikku whimpered but before she could turn around to see who it was, something made contact with her head and her world went black.

(A/N: I was bored and my sister pulled me into the world of fanfic so here you go. This is my first fanfic so I really hoped you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. I really hope I kept Rikku IC with the spunky attitude I found that I loved in the game) The creepy guy in the beginning is kind of lame but I think it'll get better later. Gippal will come in the next chapter I promise! I'll update as soon as I can (hopefully tomorrow) and please review! Thanks!)


	2. Garpadah

Rikku stirred and tried to open her eyes. Bright light flashed across her vision and she quickly closed them. Her head pounded and she brought her hand up to massage her head, noticing a huge bump on the back. She scrunched up her face.

"Ouch," she muttered.

"Rikku? Are you up?" a woman's voice asked.

Rikku tried to open her eyes and after some painful minutes, her eyes adjusted and her vision cleared. She saw Nhadala and Cid enter the room. She looked around and suddenly noticed that she was defiantly not in her room at the camp in Bikanel Desert.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're at Djose temple," her father said.

"Why?" she asked.

Her father waved a hand impatiently. "We'll talk about it later. You feelin' alright kid?"

Rikku nodded. "What happened? How long has it been?"

"You were only out through the night." Nhadala quickly reassured her. "You remember going out yesterday alone, right? Good. And you were going to come back and you said you found something?"  
Rikku nodded several times.

"And then some guy had to be mean and hit me!" she finished.

Nhadala nodded but she still seemed worried.

"Do you-"

"Ah Rikku, you're awake," a healer said as he stepped inside the room. "Cid and Nhadala, would you mind if I have a moment with Rikku? I want to see how she's doing."

They nodded and left and Rikku laid back and answered the doctor's questions and letting him examine her bruises.

"Unfortunately, you fell onto the hover craft when you were knocked out so you may see other bruises Other than that, you look fine and as long as you take it easy over the next couple of days you should be even better. Contact me if you experience any pain."

As the doctor left, Rikku hopped out of bed and headed to the temple. As she did, her mind wondered off as she thought about yesterday and how she was attacked. Who would do such a thing? And more importantly, why? What did they want from her?

Suddenly Rikku jumped and came to a halt. _My box! Good for nothing thief took my box! Oooooh, they were in some serious trouble now._

As she opened the door to the temple, Nhadala, Cid, Brother, and Gippal, who was the machine faction leader, were talking. They all looked at her when she approached them.

"Hey, it's Cid's girl." Gippal pointed out for all of them. "Cid told me about your small tumble in the sandbox."

Rikku smiled at him, white teeth flashing.

"I have a name, you know?" She said, and threw him a playful punch to the shoulder.

Brother coughed and gave Gippal a death glare. He did not like Gippal, why, Rikku was never quite sure.

"Now that Rikku's here I feel that we need to address the issue that she was attacked and what we can find out about it. The last thing we need is someone else getting hurt."

"Let's take it to my office," Gippal offered, who was the machine faction leader at Djose temple after all.

Rikku stared wide-eyed as they stepped into a room toward the left side of the temple. This was Gippal's _office_? It had nice furniture and expensive machina all around the room.

"Whoa…who died and gave you all this?" Rikku asked as she started poking at a small machina on one of the bookshelves.

"Nice, huh?" Gippal said with a smile and winked. Slowly, he pulled her hand away from the machina and walked behind his desk.

"So Rikku…do you remember anything?" Nhadala asked.

"Well…I found this really cool box." She started, eyes alight with glee. "I'm sure that's what he was after…or do you have it?"

Cid and Nhadala exchanged glances.

"No," Cid said.

Rikku pouted. "Darn, because it was this really cool box! It was nice silver and it had all these weird gadgets and gears on it with this funny symbol like and X on the front. I really want to know what's inside but I couldn't open it.

"Oh Spira!" Nhadala gasped.

Gippal was looking down at his feet shaking his head.

Cid swore and Brother began to moan by the door and muttering in Al Bhed.

"What?" Rikku demanded, looking at each of them.

"You don't know what you found?" Nhadala asked.

"Naw, she fell down too many times when she was a kid to pay attention." Gippal said.

Rikku made face at him. "That's cause you pushed me."

Gippal smirked.

Rikku turned back to Nhadala and scratched her head. "Um…no…I don't know… I'm guessing it wasn't a good thing."

"Rikku!" Gippal cried in frustration. "That was Garpadah's box!"

"Garpa- whose box?" Rikku asked, even more confused.

Gippal gave up and shook his head with a sigh.

"Garpadah's box." Nhadala repeated, trying to explain. "Year ago when you were probably very young Rikku, there was a time of high anti-Al Bhed movements, much more so then there were a couple of years ago.

"Because we disobeyed Yevon and began using Machina as you know, we were discriminated against, people saying we went against the teachings. Many summonses even refused to send our people into the farplane, and many fiends stalked our Home during this time.

"There was one such event that occurred with a father, Garpadah, and his son, Raman. Garpadah's son died one day out in the desert while he was working. Torn between the fact that his son would become a fiend and wouldn't go to the farplane, Garpadah took his son's pyreflies before they turned into a fiend and placed it into a box…the box you found. He made the box complex hoping that no one would be able to unleash his son and the powerful fiend that he had become."

Rikku nodded slowly as the words processed; the story was starting to make sense and it did sound somewhat familiar.

"There's more," Gippal said, picking up the end of the story. "Many people have tried to find that box since Garpadah hid it away but sine Home was destroyed, many believed it was destroyed to."

"Well…how did this guy know about it? And what would they want to do with a powerful fiend?"

Gippal shrugged. "Who knows how this guy found out about it and knew you would find it? As for what they would do with a powerful fiend, they thought they would be able to control it?"

"Really? Is that possible?" Rikku asked, surprised. That would be scary.

"Anything possible, kid," Gippal said.

Rikku pondered in thought. "Wow…creepy." She said and shuddered. This did not sound good at all. What had she done?

"But…he doesn't have the key, and he probably doesn't know the combination of the box. If we we're _really_ lucky, he just took it thinking he could get some extra cash off of it.'

Gippal frowned. "Somehow I doubt it."

"Fine," Rikku said and stuck out her tongue.

"Rikku's got a point though. He can't do anything if he doesn't have a key." Nhadala said.

Rikku nodded and gave Gippal an I-told-you-so look. See, she knew what she was talking about.

However, as she looked around the room, Cid had a guilty look on his face.

"Oh no, what now Pops? You're hiding something."

"See here, it may just have been a fluke that Rikku found the box but…we didn't keep you in Bikanel because it wasn't safe. See kid, someone tried to break into your room after you were attacked."

"Why would they think I would have anything in my room that was good? It's not like _I_ have the key."

Cid swore and rubbed his face.

"That's just the thing kid, you do," he finished.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The man sat in his room, now staring at his newly acquired box. As much as he tried he couldn't get the box open. He knew he needed a key but the girl didn't have it on her and he hadn't been able to get into her room. No matter, she would be back to her rooms soon and he would slip in then and search. Everything was going according to plan.

(A/N: Sorry its taking me so long to build up the plot but there will be romance I swear! I just have to get this extra stuff in. There will hopefully be Gippal's oint of view(I hope his character sounds right!) if not please feel free to tell me. Please review and thanks to Hommeles for reviewing! It was nice to hear your comments! Hopefully I can get another chapter down tomorrow)


	3. Rikku

"You what?!" Rikku cried out, jawing dropping as she tried to process the information. "Why'd you give _me_ it? How come _I _didn't know I was carrying around this power of major disaster, huh? I'm already a mess-"

"-got that right." Gippal muttered as Rikku jabbered on.

"-and what the hell is this thing anyways? _Pops!_ Why didn't you give it to Brother?!" She finished with a groan. How could her father do this to her?

"Me? I don't want it!" Brother said glaring at her.

"It's that green hairpin you used to wear all the time. The stories we had heard about the key fit the hairpin's description so we figured it was it. We were so busy at the time, that we didn't know that it held any significance and then when we did, I just thought it would probably be better if you might lose it, and then I wouldn't have to worry about it. Besides, no one knew where the box was anyways and people were starting to think it was a myth and nothing to worry about. People's enthusiasm to seek out this powerful fiend had died out and didn't seem to be a problem anymore."

"Well, that was stupid…" Rikku muttered and it was hard to keep the frustration from her voice. Her father could be so dense sometimes!

It was true; Rikku had worn a small hairpin during Yuna's pilgrimage. When she had gotten it as a small girl, she considered it special and now it actually was) and had found it to be a good luck charm. Now it seemed like that must have been wishful thinking. During Yuna's pilgrimage, Rikku could remember how often she had hoped it would bring her good luck and find some way to save her Yunie from Sin. Maybe it had brought some luck, she had thought wistfully but now it seemed highly unlikely.

"Where is this trinket now?" Nhadala asked, breaking Rikku away from her thoughts.

"I…think…it's in my room, back in Bikanel. It should be in my jewelry box."

"So Cid's girl actually does own something feminine." Gippal said.

Rikku glared at him. Maybe he was trying to break the tension in the room, but Rikku didn't think it was helping at all.

"What are we supposed to do with it now?" Brother peeped in.

Cid thought a moment. "Since this guy knows where Rikku's room is, it's probably not safe for her to stay there. I think it would be best if we brought the trinket here and Rikku, and we'll keep a close watch on you. Hopefully this guy will make a mistake and we'll be able to catch him before he does any real damage."

"He already did real damage," Rikku muttered under her breath, her hand reaching unconsciously toward the bump on her head.

To everyone she shouted "Let's get a move on people!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal's POV:

Gippal sunk down into one of the chairs aboard the Celsius and propped his feet onto the control panel. As he did so, he rested his hands behind his head. This had been one eventful day, thanks to Rikku. He chuckled, Rikku…boy had she started a mess. He hadn't seen her in awhile but she was still Cid's girl, clueless and clumsy in that cute way as always.

"Get your smelly feet off the control panel!" Rikku yelled at him, pushing his feet.

He cracked a smile for her. "And you think you smell like a bunch of roses?" he asked playfully.

She made a face but as soon as he complied with her demand, she bounced away happily.

Garpadah's box…it was interesting to find out that the myth was in fact, not a myth at all. More than anything he wanted to catch this man and bring him to justice. He could just see it, the fame he would receive…the ladies. Ha! What this would do for his career would be astounding.

The air trip didn't take long and they arrived at the Bikanel campsite quickly. Because Home was still in the process of being built, the Al Bhed had made temporary dorms for them to live in. Many shared rooms with three other people and the place also contained a small meeting room, lounge and mess hall.

Rikku trailed ahead of the group and lead them to her room. Turing the key, she slowly stepped inside.

First Gippal was amazed to see it was actually clean. He had always pictured her room to be messy…not that he pictured he would ever be in Rikku's room at all.

Rikku went over to a small wooden box and opened it. It had some mechina in it that played a little tune as the lid leaped up. Quickly she snatched the green hairpin out and shut it quickly. She turned cheeks red with slight embarrassment, and handed Cid the trinket.

"I've got a couple of things I need to take care off so I'll be staying here for a while. You go back with Gippal and put this somewhere safe, where you think no one will find it." Cid said, obviously nerved about having the hairpin in his hand and quickly gave it back to Rikku.

Rikku rolled her eyes but Gippal was amazed that she didn't start one of their famous arguments.

"Rikku…" Cid started as if he had just thought of something. "You never told us what this guy actually looked like."

Rikku shook her head. "I didn't see him. He was standing behind me."

"Then how do you know it was a guy?" Gippal asked.

"Because his shadow was like a thousands times bigger than mine _and_ he had a deep voice." She answered him, clearly annoyed and waved her hands wildly. "It was like what you did when we were kids and you'd sneak up behind me and scare the crap out of me."

And with that she left the room, oblivious to the accusation she had just made. I stood shocked for a minute, hoping Cid had not caught it.

Unfortunately, he did. Cid had such a bad temper that almost anything could trigger it and sense he just caught Rikku's statement…he was going to be in for a good yelling. Sure enough, he rounded on me and grabbed my collar after he made sure Rikku was gone.

"Boy! I don't know what Rikku meant by that but if you have any involvement in this I swear I will hunt you down and kill you like the dog that you are!"

Gippal gulped but met Cid's eyes steadily. "I swear to you that I have no involvement in this. I would never hurt your daughter."

Cid grumbled as he dropped Gippal's collar and Gippal could just make out the words "You've already managed to do that."

Gippal frowned. He had never laid a hand on Rikku, well maybe he did but that would have just been some rough housing when they were kids but that was all it was. Then it hit him. He wasn't talking about physical hurt but emotional. Guilt rose up a little inside of him. When they had been teenagers, Gippal and Rikku had dated for a little bit. It had been reckless and they both had no idea what they were doing. Then he left to join the crimson squad and had let Rikku go. She had cried a little bit, he remembered but he hadn't really thought it had been really bad. Could she have really hid that pain away for all these years and not told him?

Suddenly Gippal realized that he was alone in Rikku's room. He scratched his head. When had Cid left? Shaking his head, he made a jog back to the Celsius.

Rikku was outside the entrance, tapping her foot impatiently with her hands on her hip.

"Come on, you slow poke! What's taking you so long?"

Gippal smirked. "Had a little chat with Cid."

She turned away from him and entered the ship.

"What could you two possible have to talk about that would take you _this long_?"

Gippal chucked, he could not hid the amusement. "You would never believe what Cid and I were just talking about."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I saw her today, she came with too many people and I think they know what we've been up to, Shade," a young man informed his leader. He fidgeted slightly as if he was nervous.

Shade would have laughed at the boy's discomfort but found himself angry that Rikku and her friends had found out a portion of his plans. He sighed; Rikku was making it a lot harder than it had to be. He supposed she had now gone to Djose temple where she believed it would be safe and for at the moment it truly was. It would be so hard to get into that place if you were a stranger, and were caught snooping around now that Cid was watching out for anything suspicious. Shade needed to get someone in there. He would do it himself but…the girl did hear his voice, might even remember how tall he was when he had walked behind her. It would be too risky to go there himself. Perhaps, Westaire would do. He looked at the boy, somewhat glad he had been able to befriend him. He wasn't much but he would have to do.

"Westaire," he commanded. "I need you to do something for me. Go sign yourself up to help around in Djose temple. See if you can gain any information about Rikku and how we may be able to find that key…"

(A/N: Third chapter up! Oh I'm so happy! Thanks for everyone that review! I've gotten a lot of hits on this but not many are reviewing…so please, PLEASE review! It would mean the world to me to hear your feedback. Give me the good, the bad…and well…maybe not the ugly. I have Gippal's point of view now which I think came out really well. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hoped you enjoyed it)


	4. Evander

Rikku woke up the next day and almost forgot where she was. Finally it came back to her though. Djose Temple…oh yeah…that's where she was. It wasn't that she wasn't excited to stay at Djose temple and help with the machina, but everyone was hanging around her. Until her attacker was caught, everyone was going to stay close to her and make sure she was safe. Brother was almost glued to her sometimes and no matter how many times she told him he was in her bubble, he seemed to always want to pop it.

Rikku sighed and jumped out of bed. Getting ready quickly, she made her way to the machina room where she, Gippal, Brother, and Buddy were working.

"Good morning!" Rikku said to everyone as she entered. Everyone replied a muddled 'good morning' back to her and she pulled out the sphere machina that she had put under the work table last night. She had started to fix it yesterday but grew frustrated and tired when she couldn't get it to work.

It was a neat contraption that absolutely fascinated her. The sphere was held together by individual pieces that had been welded into a circular shape. When you pressed on one of the individual pieces, the piece was suppose to pop out, reveling little pockets that you could put anything you want into it. Secretly, she had taken a smaller version of it and had dropped the key into it. Then she had hid the sphere under a loose floorboard in her room, along with other boxes that could possibly contain a key. Someone would be searching for awhile if they actually found the loose floorboard.

The sphere she was working on now had problems with the springs and wouldn't pull out if you pressed on the right piece. Yesterday, she had had to disenable a lot of the pieces to figure out how the thing actually worked, and then how she could get it to actually do what it's supposed to.

"Someone's boyfriend is here," she heard Brother muttered irritably in her ear.

"Brother what on Spira are you talking about? I don't-" Rikku started when she saw Evander walk into the room. He was tall muscular and tan from working out in the desert. Unusual for an Al Bhed though, he had short auburn hair and deep blue eyes. She suppressed a groan and felt utterly embarrassed as she felt everyone's eyes in the room drift toward her. She folded her arms across her chest. Evander wasn't her boyfriend!

"Evander!" she said, hoping she sounded cheerful. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question. Shouldn't you be getting some rest somewhere?" he asked. He couldn't resist not giving her a more than friendly hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. Rikku's mouth twitched and her face burned as she thought of everyone staring. Gippal didn't know anything about Evander; what smart comment was he going to make when he left?

"Well, I decided to make myself useful." She said and pulled away. She had known Evander had been disappointed when she had broken up with him, but Rikku just didn't feel like she connected with him the way she thought she would when they had first started dating. Something had been missing.

"I…just wanted to make sure you were ok…I heard what happened," he said, again disappointed by her rejection. Rikku wasn't sure why she kept on hurting him. He was a great guy. Why didn't she like him?

Rikku tried to shrug it off, hoping that he would leave soon. She could feel the awkward moment building like it always did.

"No big deal," she managed to say. "I'm ok now and that's what matters."

He nodded.

"I'm going to be around for awhile so come look for me if you want to," he said and left when he knew Rikku would give him nothing more than politeness.

"Bye," she said and she let a sigh of relieve come over her when she heard him shut the door. Everyone went back to their work as if they had seen anything…expect Gippal.

"Wow, Cid's girl actually got a boyfriend with Brother on your watch, I'm amazed." He commented.

Rikku threw him, her best death glare, but her cheeks still burned. Why did she feel so embarrassed about her 'boyfriend' with Gippal?

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"I don't know, you guys looked pretty cozy for a minute to me."

"Shut up!" Rikku and Brother shouted together.

Rikku looked at Brother, and Brother looked at Rikku. Wow, for once they actually agreed on something. The tension in the room finally broke and Rikku found she was starting to smile and managed to giggle.

Now that it was back to normal, everyone began working on their projects until it was lunch time.

As they arrived at the mess hall and got their food they all began eating and talking happily. However, Rikku had noticed that Gippal hadn't lost his old charm and he was still attracting girls left and right. Rikku frowned, today however, she felt this odd feeling growing in the pit of her stomach and found she couldn't ignore it. And seeing a relatively attracted blonde girl plopping herself down in Gippal's lap didn't help it either. Even though it was rude, Rikku couldn't help but stare.

That is, until Evander came down and sat next to her. She tried to ignore the tension that was building in the air again and tried to start up a polite conversation. As they talked however, Evander had this weird look on his face and she repeatedly saw him glaring at Gippal. Maybe the scene with the girl and Gippal was too much for him to handle as well.

"Evander is something wrong?" she asked.

He snapped out of his glare and looked at her.

"No, no of course not," Evander started but his eyes drifted again to Gippal. "Well yeah something is." He started again and lowered his voice. She leaned closer to him so she could hear. "Should you- should you be hanging around Gippal?"

"Gippal? This Gippal?" she asked a little louder than she thought she did. She felt nervous as their table went quiet again. "What's wrong with Gippal?"

"What? You didn't know?" Evander asked, puzzled.

"Shut up, Evander!" Brother practically roared, now the whole room was quiet. "She's doesn't need to know!"

Rikku looked at everyone at the table, lastly Gippal who look in pain and the girl sitting on his lap that look positively horrified.

"Know what?" she asked quickly.

Evander shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "There's this rumor going around, saying he's the guy who attacked you…"

That's when Gippal almost threw the girl out of his lap and stood up. He looked angry and at one point Rikku thought he was going to jump over the table and attack Evander for the accusation. After painful moments of clenching and unclenching his fists, he stalked out the room.

Rikku was more confused than ever. Gippal was the machina fraction leader! Who would accuse him?

She must have said the question out loud with out knowing it because now everyone at her table didn't seem to want to answer it. The rest of the room went back to their business now that Gippal had left.

"Who would accuse him? Certainly I would never believe he was the one who attacked me." She stated but instead of reassurance, she got even more uncomfortable looks and they refused to meet her gaze.

"I did…?" Rikku voice trailed off. She would never accuse Gippal! Her mind raced as she thought of the previous day, trying to remember anything that would have incriminated Gippal. _"It was like what you did when we were kids and you'd sneak up behind me and scare the crap out of me." _The words shot through her.

"Shit!" she cursed and standing up, she ran after Gippal.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal's POV:

Gippal was so glad he had gotten out of the room before he had blown up completely. He hadn't really minded Cid's remark because he was pretty sure Cid would yell at him for everything he did. For one, Gippal had not been happy to see Evander anyways. When he had heard Brother whispered "Boyfriend", Gippal had immediately disliked him, especially when he started groping Rikku. When Evander had left, he had made some smart-ass comment and then tried to force the image of Rikku in another guy's arms away. He had tried to force the protective thoughts for Rikku from him. I mean, it wasn't like they were still dating or anything. However, he had been a little relieved to hear Rikku defensively say he wasn't her boyfriend. But that brought up another question, had they dated before or were they going to?

He found that he had traveled a good distance from the mess hall and pounded the wall with his fist to get out his frustration.

Why had Evander told Rikku? He wondered how that rumor had gotten around and he was furious that Evander had brought it up. Didn't he understand Rikku at all? She meant _nothing_ by that comment. Did Evander feel threatened by him or something? I mean, how could he? Abigail had been sitting on his lap and distracting him from Rikku. He had been glad Abigail had come over actually. The odd feelings that had stirred up as Rikku had talked to Evander had not been good. To say the lease, it had been very uncomfortable. With Abigail in his lap, he had been able to suppress it, until Evander came back. But why would Evander think Rikku meant anything to him?

Gippal shoulders sagged, the anger finally slipping out of him. Maybe it was because she-

"Gippal!" he heard a voice call out.

He turned to see Rikku running toward him, her golden hair flying behind her.

"Gippal," she said as she tried to catch her breath. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea-"

"It's nothing," Gippal said, for once waving away the problem and not giving her a sarcastic comment about her boyfriend's attitude. For some reason, he just didn't feel like it.

"But Gippal…I didn't mean anything by that comment…it was just a- just a…" she tried to explain again, guilt was written clearly across her face.

He patted her shoulder. "Really, Rikku, its nothing you need to worry about."

"But it_ is_ Gippal!" she cried but she paused as she tried to pull herself together. "I mean, I trust you, you know? We've known each other for so long and we're friends. Gippal, I know you would never try to hurt me."

Now it was his turn to feel guilty as he remembered walking away from her for the Crimson squad. He made sure she didn't see his guilt.

"Of course we're friends-" he started but was caught off guard when Rikku surprised him with a hug, her slender arms wrapping around his waist.

"-I would never try to hurt you…" he finished. He couldn't help but notice how easily she slipped into his arms. How long ago had it been since she done had that?

She looked up at him, a hug smile spreading across her face and she slowly pulled away.

"Just wanted to make sure there wasn't any confusion," she said, and he could tell that she was blushing slightly.

He smirked at her. "Aw, Rikku, I didn't know you cared." he said and to bring them back to normal he grabbed her and tried to give her a noogie.

"Hey! Watch it! My head still hurts, you know!" She cried trying to pull away.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that." He said and released her and they smiled at each other.

"Well, now that that's settled, I'm going to go work on my machina. See you later!" she said and ran down the hall.

Gippal watched her go and then headed to his office. Brother would probably be in the work room so Rikku would be watched and safe. Gippal thought of the mountain of paperwork he had to do. He had put it off this morning but knew he had to get it done sometime.

Evander starting a scene had not been the best event for Gippal. Sure he had straightened things out with Rikku, but almost his whole staff had heard what Evander had told Rikku. Even when they found out that the attacker wasn't Gippal, there might still be suspicion and until then, Gippal knew they would be careful around him. He sighed, how much of their trust and respect had he lost today? Now more than ever did he want to find the culprit!

….…………………………………………………………………………………………

Shade grumbled as Westaire stood in front of him that evening. Westaire had failed him miserably and had not been able to get the job at Djose temple. Another day was lost that he couldn't afford!

"Try again, harder! Or else the consciousness will be far worse than it was today," Shade informed Westaire, anger boiling inside of him.

He wanted power and he wanted it now!

(A/N: This chapter is a little longer but I think it came out really good and the romance is starting to form! I absolutely love this couple! Anyways, Shade is getting a little boring but since Westaire is coming into a bigger role, the action will come very soon! Hope you enjoyed it and please review


	5. Worry

Rikku found that the next day went extremely well (Evander had left that morning to her relief) and she fix into Djose Temple atmosphere perfectly. It was like she had always been there. She had finished her one machine project and today she had grabbed another one to start on. As she pulled it out and laid her various tools on the ground before her, she noticed a young man walk into the work room and Gippal was showing him around. The young man was short and had long blonde hair and dark green eyes. As he trailed behind Gippal, she saw his nervousness. He must be new!

"Heya! I'm Rikku," interrupting Gippal's speech and jutting out her hand.

The man seemed surprised and Gippal looked paranoid as the man shook hand with her.

"Hello, I'm Westaire. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Rikku." Westaire said and Rikku instantly recognized his rich Al Bhed accent and his awkward smile. Aw, he didn't like being the new guy. Well, Rikku was going to cure that.

"Rikku…can I have a word with you?" Gippal asked, still annoyed.

Without waiting for a reply he grabbed her arm and dragged her away from Westaire.

"What?" Rikku asked, now annoyed.

"He's new," he said, staring intently into her eyes.

Rikku raised an eyebrow, not getting his point. "Yeah, so…?"

"Considering we don't know him very well, I suggest you stay away from him until we believe he is safe."

"Westaire, not safe?" Rikku asked and turned to see Westaire averting his eyes from them, clearing worried about what they were talking about.

"He wouldn't hurt a fly! And who is this 'we' you are referring to? Besides, my attacker didn't have _that_ Al Bhed accent and was _much _taller."

"Still…Rikku, look at me. I'm very serious when I say you should lie low for a little while.

Rikku huffed, who does he think he is! He was just as bad as Brother or her father!

"Gippal, do not presume to think you can start being all protective over me. Until Westaire proves otherwise I will treat him with curtsey and friendliness." She informed him and was quite pleased with the speech she pulled. Then, she strode away from him.

She plopped herself back down and resumed to fix her machina as Gippal lead Westaire to a different room.

Rikku went around Djose temple, getting the feel of how things were run and where everything was. She roamed the halls, and inspected everything. She would often stop and examine what the other works were doing and sometimes helped them fix any machina they were working on.

Now she walked down the halls and hummed quietly to herself. She was bored. It was almost dinner time and she didn't really feel like starting any new projects and then just having to put it away. Suddenly she heard a noise behind her. She squeaked and turned around but no one was there. As she began walking again, she heard the same noise. She turned around and still no one was there. She was starting to get nervous. Where was Brother when you wanted him?

She peered around the corner but saw no one.

"I know someone's following me! You can't sneak up on me again! Show yourself!" she called out but she didn't sound as confident as she wanted to.

When still no one appeared she decided that she might have just been paranoid with Gippal's warning. Nevertheless, she raced down to the mess hall.

Westaire joined Gippal (who surprisingly didn't have a girl draped around him) and Brother and herself to eat that evening. Seeing as Gippal and Brother were there, Rikku decided she was perfectly safe.

Westaire for the most part was very quiet but proved to be a very good listener as she chattered on. As much as Rikku tried to prompt him, Westaire said little about himself or what he had been doing before he came to Djose Temple to work. This disappointed Rikku a little and made her think of Gippal's warning.

Rikku found that her pride was getting in the way and she refused to apologize for the way she had argued with Gippal before. Therefore, Rikku found she couldn't talk to Gippal at all during dinner. He sat and ate his dinner quietly and the guilt was starting to get to her. She tried to force it away and talked to Westaire instead so she wouldn't have to make eye contact with Gippal.

Eventually, she couldn't take the guilt anymore but just as she was about to tell Gippal she was sorry, he throw away his food and walked out of the mess hall.

She frowned, what had Gippal so lost in thought? Throwing away her food and saying goodbye to the others she too left the mess hall.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal's POV:

Gippal had been silent during dinner, deep in thought. He just couldn't understand why he couldn't get his mind off Rikku. More and more he thought about the small amount of time when they had been dating. Everything he did lead to Rikku. Wondering what she was doing, if someone was make sure that she was safe, if she _was _safe. And then if he wasn't thinking about Rikku, he was trying to spot anything out of place. He wondered whether anyone had been seen lurking around the place, if anyone had broken into anything that should have been locked, checking to see if there was any news about this guy at Bikanel. Yet he heard and saw nothing.

Gippal made his way outside and leaned against the bridge outside the temple. The sun had just gone down and stars were stating to appear in the sky. The weather was nice and there was a faint breeze that stirred the air. He could hear the leaves rustle and animals walking about the temple grounds. He couldn't believe how peaceful and relaxing it was out here.

Maybe Rikku had been right, and this guy really didn't know what the box was that he found it and sold it for extra money. With absolutely no word about this guy again since she was attacked, maybe it had just been some bad luck after all. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to accept it though.

"Gippal?" a voice called to him.

He looked to his left to see Rikku standing at the edge of the bridge. She rolled back onto the balls of her toes, twisting her fingers in her hand.

He smiled faintly at her. "Hey, Cid's girl. You ok?"

She smiled weakly and went to stand next to him. She smiled grew as she looked up into his face.

"I was going to ask you the same question." She told him

"Oh? And why is that?"

She struggled with her emotions and she licked her lips nervously.

"Because you were all quiet at dinner and then we had a fight earlier and I never said I was sorry for yelling at you…"her voice trailed off as she ran out of things to say.

"Rikku…" he whispered, pushing a strand of hair fro her face, he hand coming down to rest on her cheek. Spria, when was the last time they had stood this close? Her breath tickled his neck and her body heat seeped into his hand.

She seemed shocked at first by his soft touch and looked at him, puzzled. Then to his surprise, she leaned into the palm of his hand, smiling.

"It's been…so long…I-I wondered if you still cared," she said.

Before he could think of a reason not to, he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her close. She looked back up to him, and leaned down and their lips met.

He could think of nothing else but the softness of her lips and how much he had missed the feel of her small body pressing against him. She sighed and kissed him back. Neither of them saw Westarie watching them in the shadows.

(A/N: Yeah, romance! This is a little shorter than my other chapters but it just felt so right to stop here. And the plot thickens! Hope you liked this chapter and PLEASE review!!! Thanks for reading!)


	6. Suprise

Rikku lay in her bed that night, too many thoughts swirling around her mind to get any sleep. When she had gone to see Gippal, she had never expected him to kiss her. She hugged her pillow tighter, wiggling in excitement. He still cared for he, he still wanted to be with her! She had been so mad at him when he had left for the crimson squad, leaving her with nothing, that she was sure he didn't like her anymore. Then when she had seen him after he came back, he always had girls around him and so she had tried to put her feelings behind. After he told Yuna and Paine that they had 'made quite a couple' Rikku wondered what he went be that.

Oh! But when he had kissed her, it had felt so good! She felt like everything was the way it should be. His arms wrapped around her, so strong and reassuring and his kiss made her feel like she was fifteen again. Her stomach had gone into tight knots and she hadn't been able to breath. After awhile, they had stopped kissing and Gippal had brought her back to her room, giving her a quick kiss before leaving her.

But now Rikku couldn't help but wonder…what would happen to them now? What would he say or do tomorrow? Would he act like it never happened or did he want to go further in their relationship? Rikku liked to fancy the latter was true.

With that in her mind, she smiled and went to sleep.

Rikku got up hurriedly and raced to Gippal's office. He was standing in front of his desk, sorting papers. He had his back turned to her so she couldn't resist sneaking up behind him and wrapping her arms around him

"Wow, Mr. Machine Faction Leader actually cleans his desk? It was so messy the last time I came in here, I'm shocked." She mused.

He jumped when she had wrapped her arms around him and he chuckled.

"Good grief, Cid's girl, you can't do that."

"Why? For once I actually managed to scare you! I know I hurt your ego but you'll just have to live with it."

He turned to face her, smiling devilishly. Before she knew it, he panted another passionate kiss on her. Slowly she pulled away and looked into his eyes, searching.

"You're not just playing with me, are you?" she asked softly.

He seemed shocked by her question but then smiled. "Rikku, if I ever fooled around with you like this, your father would have my neck."

She knew he was right and it made her chuckle a bit.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Go ahead; what do you want to ask me?"

"You and Evander…what was that? I mean were you dating, are you dating, or are you going to date him?"

She made a face. "We _were_ dating. I broke it off with him a couple of weeks ago." She said but couldn't bring herself to tell him it the reason why.

"Not on the rebound, are you?" he asked.

She laughed, "Far from it."

"Does that mean we are a couple again?"

"If that's what you want to be, I'm ready to give us a second chance. I think we've hurt each other enough, haven't we?"

"A couple we are then," he said and sealed with a kiss.

………………………………………………………………………………...

Gippal believed himself to be the happiest man alive after Rikku had left. He had finally won back the girl of his dreams. Everything seemed to be falling into place. Rikku still liked him, she seemed to be safe because there had been no more sign of her attacker, and his job was running smoothly. Yes this was the life he thought and headed to the workroom

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku skipped down the hall happily. She was back together with Gippal!

"Yeah!" she cried and punched the air with her fist.

Calming herself back down, she made her way to the work room. Westaire, Buddy, and Brother were there. Just when she was about to go in, she realized that she had forgotten her tools back in her room. She waved innocently when she tracked back and saw Gippal heading in her direction.

"I'll be in the work room in a minute," she said. "I forgot something,"

He nodded and they went their separate ways.

She reached her room but noticed that it was open a crack. Had she been so eager to see Gippal that she had forgotten to close it? No, her 'unique' key was in her room, she had remembered she had shut it to keep it safe.

She approached the door but didn't open it. She listened intently but didn't hear anything. She kicked the door opened with a shout and look around her room.

It was a mess; someone had gone through her stuff! No one was there though.

She cried out in alarm and flew to the floor board. Tearing it apart she looked into her secret safe. Her machina was gone! And the key with it.

Not bothering to see if anything else was stolen she fled her room and headed to the one person who would know what to do.

_Gippal_

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal, unaware of Rikku's predicament, worked diligently on his machina. His high spirits were broken however as soon as Rikku came bursting through the door, her face pale.

Gippal ran over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Oh! Gippal!" she cried and tears poured down her face. "He knows about the box! Someone took the key!"

Gippal cursed and Buddy, Westaire, and Brother came to them, all looking worried.

"Someone broke into my room; it must've been when I went to your office, Gippal."

Now she had said that and Brother became distracted from the real problem.

"You were in his office? Why were you in his office? Alone? I told you Rikku, he's not good for you…" Brother started rambling off.

Gippal rolled his eyes and turned o Brother. "It doesn't matter what we were doing in my office! It's none of your business. Just because you're upset that your crush like me five thousand years ago better doesn't mean I'm bad for Rikku! The really problem is-"

Gippal was caught off by Brother throwing a punch at him. Now everyone was in the fray as Rikku screamed at Brother as Brother started attacking Gippal. Gippal tried to fight him off as Buddy tried to pull Brother off of him. He could hear Rikku whining in Al Bhed and having a tantrum because no one was listening to her.  
"Just a sec-" he tried to tell her as he finally managed to kick his feet into Brother's chest to get Brother off of him. Being thrown back, Brother and Buddy went tumbling to the floor onto their back.

Suddenly he heard Rikku gasp and he turned to look at her. In shock he saw Westaire behind her. In the chaos, he had managed to get Rikku's arm and pinned it behind her back, a gun held to her head.

The room became silent save except for everyone's heavy breathing.

Rikku whimpered, looking at them helplessly. She began to struggle but Westaire pushed the gun closer to her temple.

"Don't move any one of you. I will shoot her." Westaire said. His voice was shaky and so was his grip on the gun but there was determination in his face. Somehow, Gippal knew he would kill her if given the chance. Someone had told Westaire to kidnap Rikku. He knew Westaire wasn't behind all of this; he wasn't capable of doing all this.

Slowly, Westaire began dragging Rikku to the door.

"Rikku!" Gippal cried out, not knowing what else he could do. He took a step forward.

"Don't move!" Westaire cried louder, panic seizing him.

"Do you think you'll be ale to make it out of here alive, Westaire? You have no chance. Let her go," Gippal pleaded.

Westaire looked at his, hate in his eyes.

"Oh, I better make it out of here safely." He said his voice low and malicious, as if he had transformed into a new person. "Or Rikku won't live to see tomorrow. Give us five- no ten minutes to get out of here. If you get help or come after us before ten minutes are up, she _will_ die."

Gippal moved another step, determined to save Rikku.

"Gippal, don't!" she cried and her body became rigid as the gun pressed even closer to her head. "I'll-I'll be ok,"

And with that, Westaire dragged Rikku out of the room.

(A/N: Yeah, the plot is building! I would have had it up sooner (like 2 days ago!) but it wouldn't let me submit documents for some reason! GGGRRRR. Anyways, I hoped you liked some of the action here, I know there really hasn't been any. I find that the more I write this story, I feel that everyone is getting OOC but considering this is my first fanfic, I'm going to let it slide a bit. I really need to play the game again to get a feel of the characters again. But I'll still finish this fanfic because I'm hoping some will like to hear the end. With this cliffy, I know you want to know what happens to Rikku! Please review and thanks for reading!)


	7. Shade

Gippal's POV:

The door closed behind Rikku as Westaire dragged her out of the room. The first one to react was Brother, who immediately made a mad dash to the door.

"Brother…wait!" Gippal demanded and pulled him back.

"You are really going to wait ten minutes? Are you crazy? Then they'll get away!" Brother cried.

"No, I'm not but we-we can't just go running after them! We need to have some sort of strategy, a plan…"

"Oh yeah? And what kind of plan were you thinking of?" Brother asked, doubting that Gippal could come up with anything.

Gippal's mind was racing. How had he gotten into that fight with Brother when he knew that this whole situation had taken a turn for the worse? Why had he still kept Westaire in the Fraction when he didn't trust him? Just when he had gotten Rikku back, something was trying to tear their relationship apart again! And she had been so brave the whole entire time. Rikku was so trusting and loyal to everyone; she never judged them. Gippal couldn't even bear to think that _his_ innocent Rikku might make it out of this untouched.

Suddenly an idea came to him.

"Ok…this is what we're going to do. Follow me," Gippal instructed and cautiously made his way out into the halls.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku's POV:

Rikku was surprised (and dismayed) that no one came across them as Westarie lead her through some back hallway to get out of the temple.

Westaire started to mumble something as they got outside. She saw a hover craft waiting for them. Where was he going to take her? With one hand still holding up the cold metal to her temple, Westaire dug into his pocket with the other.

"Westaire? Westaire!" Rikku said frantically. "What are you doing?"

"Shut-Shut up," Westaire said to her.

"Why are you doing this? I thought you were my friend…" Rikku told him.

"I said shut up!" he said little stronger this time.

Rikku whimpered but went quiet as she was told. Her body was shaking uncontrollably now as a million things ran through her head. She could just see Gippal telling her not to trust Westaire. Why hadn't she listened to him?! Rikku sought frantically with her eyes for some means to escape but with the gun pressed to her head, she wasn't willing to risk anything. Maybe when they left on the hover…then she could escape. What was Westaire doing?

Suddenly he shifted his weight behind her and she saw his hand come up in front of her. He clutched a damp cloth in his hand.

"Westaire, no!" Rikku cried as she realized he was going to knock her out.

He placed the cloth over her mouth and nose and Rikku could do nothing but inhale. Her vision became blurry and her body felt weak. Her eyes slowly closed and she blacked out.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal's POV:

Hastily Gippal made his way to his office, Buddy and Brother close on his heels.

"So…what are we doing?" Brother asked again.

Gippal didn't answer and began rummaging around through his desk and pulled out a gun which he stuffed into his large pocket. Pulling out another, he threw it to Brother who caught it awkwardly as if he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"Do we really need to use these?" Buddy asked.

"If we're saving Rikku we might," Gippal responded but he wasn't really paying attention. Thoughts whirled around in his mind as he tried to piece his plan together for saving Rikku. He hoped his was right.

"How are we going to save Rikku?' Buddy asked.

"I have this feeling we'll find Rikku, Westaire, and the man who is behind all this in Bikanel. It's just a hunch but it was the last place he showed up. Now that he has the key and the box, we need to be prepared to fight just in case he releases the fiend inside of that box." Gippal replied.

"So he has everything, why didn't Westaire just leave with it? Why did he take Rikku?"

Gippal's shoulders sagged. "I don't know."

"But Bikanel is so huge! We'll never find them!" Brother moaned.

"It may be huge but there aren't many places to hide and if he releases a huge fiend in the middle of the dessert, it won't be that hard to find them."

"You're sure we'll find them at Bikanel?" Brother asked, again doubting Gippal.

"Nope but it's the best lead we got so far so we might as well take it. Buddy, try to find a small airship we can take to Bikanel. Try to be discrete about what were doing."

_The last thing I need is Cid finding out and killing me for putting Rikku in danger…_Gippal thought.

"So…that's your plan? Just going to Bikanel…?" Brother asked.

"I'm making it along as we go. Got any better ideas?" Gippal challenged. Brother was starting to get on his nerves.

Brother said nothing and left Gippal alone after that.

Soon Buddy found them a craft and they made their way as fast as possible to Bikanel. They grabbed three hover crafts and were just about to make their way out into the hot desert when Nhadala stopped them.

"What are you doing? You can't go out there!" she told them

Gippal rubbed his face, irritated. "Why not?"

"Because a sand storm just hit, that's why. No one will be digging today. Hey, why are you out here anyways?" Nhadala asked.

Gippal shook his head. "Digging…" he said under his breath. If only she knew.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku woke up slowly. Her head hurt like anything and she didn't want to comprehend why she was tied to a chair. She lifted her head and felt a cold air brush against her damp skin where her chin had laid two seconds ago. She had drooled.

Rikku made a face and slowly looked around. It was a small dark wooden shack. Most of the boards from the wall and ceiling were missing and bright light shone through the cracks. Her eyes were still unfocused but she could faintly make out the image of blurry sand. She was in Bikanel.

"Aw so the princess has awakened," a cool voice said behind her.

Rikku flinched. Her body grew tense as she heard footsteps come from behind her. A man appeared at her left. He was tall with shaggy black hair and piercing black eyes. Rikku gulped, he sure looked intimidating.

"Why am I here? Who are you? What do you want?" Rikku demanded.

"I think you know exactly what I want, princess," the man said.

"Not really…I mean, you took Garpadah's box and all and stole the key so I guess you want to take over Spira but that's about it. You didn't have to kidnap me you know."

"Oh but I did Rikku, I did."

"Figures."

"Well, princess, I need you because the key is not the only thing that unlocks that box. The gears need to be turned in a certain order and a certain way for the box to open."

"So? Why can't_ you_ do it?"

"As I hear it you are _very_ good with machina. I need this to be done quickly; I have lost all my patience to your dear friend Westaire."

Westaire? So he _was_ working for this crazy goon. Where was he then? "And who thinks I'm going to open that box for you? I mean…"

Before Rikku could get any other words out, the man had pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it at her forehead. Rikku would have jumped at the swift movements if she hadn't been tied down.

"If not, you will face the consequences. Even though I need you I may not be able to hold myself back if I am annoyed by your insolence. _Do I make myself clear?_"

Rikku nodded several times, not trusting her voice.

"Shade! I'm back." Rikku heard a muffled voice she as the front door opened.

Shade looked somewhat annoyed but turned to see Westaire walking to the door.

Westaire looked shocked to see Rikku and quickly crossed to the far side of the shack, not making eye contact.

"Shade? That is your name?" Rikku mused but to no one in particular. That seemed well for no one else in the room seemed to want to answer her.

She craned her neck to the side to look at Westaire. He was trying to make himself busy so he could avoid looking at her.

"Westaire? Why did you side with Shade? He'll kill you, Westaire. He doesn't care about you. He'll kill you, you know?" Rikku tried to say, hoping she could get through to him. _Westaire…please help me get out of here_ she thought. What else could she do?

And idea struck her and before she could think of the consequences that might follow she put it in action.

"Well, I can't open your precious box unless you untie me." She said looking up at Shade.

He sighed but began to untie the rope around her arms and ankles. When he had bent down and had finished untie the last bit of rope on her right ankle she kicked her foot into his chest. His head snapped up and she then rammed her knee under his jaw. He cried out in pain and as quickly as she could she stumbled over him and raced toward the door. Westaire was slow to react as Shade yelled at him and Rikku threw open the door, thinking she was home free.

Her hopes dwindled as she stared out into the wild desert. Just a few miles away, a great sand storm was causing havoc through the desert, sand swirling high into the sky. Rikku stumbled forward. Could she make it through that? She slumped to her knees, she knew she could not.

A chuckle escaped Shade's throat as he stood at the door.

"Go Rikku, go into the sand storm if you must but I guarantee it will not give a merciful death."

_Oh? And you will?_ Rikku thought but didn't dare voice it out loud for fear he would answer.

She stood up and glared at him, her green eyes flashing.

"Shut up!" she yelled at him, tears streaming down her cheek. She could not control herself any longer.

She looked back at the sand storm. Would it be better to take her chance and fight the storm? She knew she would not live through it but would that be better than handing the world a monstrous fiend? She shook her head and turned her back to the storm. She wanted to live, even if that meant for only a couple of hours or days. She would not give hope up so easily.

Shade shoved her back into the small shack, and defeated, Rikku began to work out the puzzle of Garpadah's box.

(AN: Will Gippal save her in time before the fiend is unleashed? Who knows? I do! Anyways Rikku kind of went OOC at the very end I think but she wouldn't be her normal happy self with what's going on, don't you think? Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. I guess this story is almost coming into an end. :( It'll probably be only 2 or 3 more chapters, 4 at the most. Please review, I would love to hear what you have to say!)


	8. Rescue Mission

Gippal paced around the room. When Nhadala had told them of the storm, they decided to wait it out in the meeting room of the temporary Al Bhed home. Since then, Brother and Buddy had left the room to roam the halls. Gippal was tense and must have looked outside to see if the storm had died down every minute. He _had_ to find Rikku, he just had to. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to her.

Brother and Buddy came into the room silently and to Gippal's surprise, Cid came after them.

Gippal wanted to curse but tried to retain a calm composure. What was he going to tell Cid? He had been hoping he cold get Rikku back safely before he had to tell Cid what had happened.

He scratched his head, trying to think.

"Hey Cid…"

"Don't give me none of that crap, boy. Don't think I wouldn't have found out about my only girl gettin' kidnapped."

"Well Cid-I-" Gippal began but was cut of by Cid again.

"I don't want to hear any excuses from you, boy. I'll think about what I'm goin' to do with you after you save my girl."

Gippal coughed. "Yes sir."

"Good. Now, what are you airheads goin' to do to save my daughter?"

"We got to wait for the storm to die down before we can do anything…" Gippal said but trailed off.

"You ain't doin' that boy. She'll probably be dead by then-" Cid ranted.

_-That's nice to think about-_Gippal thought.

"-and I got some cool protective suits you can try against the storm and I have some new hover crafts. Come with me."

They left the meeting room and down the hall to the work room. In the middle stood five hover crafts but they weren't just hover crafts. They were made out of new shiny steel metal with a bright orange sphere above the sit. Across each sit of the vehicles were orange and red patterned suits.

"Shinra has made these spheres to act as a protective shield. Once activated, they will be able to create a barrier to separate you from the sand storm. The suits are similar to the dress spheres the girls used during their time with the gullwings. They should also help you through the sand storm and have different machina devices on it if you should have to encounter a fiend. "

Gippal stared at the hover craft more than the uniform, astonished at its incredible design.

"Where'd you get this machina?" Gippal asked, amazed.

"They're new so I can't guarantee that they work that great-still gotta work out some quirks in about they have proved to be very good against string winds."

Brother was moaning something behind them. "I'm your son and I haven't got one of these new machina yet?"

"I told ya, they still need a fixin' you hear?" Cid snapped.

They strapped on the uniforms as Cid wished them good luck and started their engines. One of the walls opened up with machina to aid them to reveal the desert in all its glory.

Rikku…I'm coming!" Gippal whispered as he rode off into storm.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku sat in the middle of the room crossed legged on the floor. Hunched over, she worked out the box's combination. How long it had been, Rikku wasn't sure but the storm was moving slowly toward them. She hoped it would die down soon or they all might die and no one would ever know.

Rikku was surprised how quickly she went into 'work mode' despite the fact that there was a scary fiend inside the box she was trying to open. While she tried to figure out the combination, though, she tried to think of some to escape. How long would Shade wait before he got tired and decided to dispose of her? With the sand storm, could she even hope for someone to come and rescue her?

Rikku had helped defeat Sin and Vegnagun and if it wasn't for the sand storm, she would have thought herself pretty capable of escaping on her own. But now? Now, she could really use some help.

Click, click, clink, click- went the machina as she turned the gears.

Westaire and Shade stood at the back of the shack, doing whatever they were doing. Rikku didn't really care what they were doing but several times she could feel their eyes on her.

ZZZZZRRRRINNK!

She gasped as the gears clicked into place. Now the key would be able to open the box! She cursed; wishing she could have figured it out a little later, buy her some more time to figure out a way to escape Shade alive. Maybe Shade hadn't noticed and she could act like she was still trying to figure it out…

Too late, he had heard it and snatched the box out of her hands. She tried to grab it back but to no avail.

Shade struck open the box with a quick turn of the key. With one last click, the box opened and engulfed them in white light.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal, Brother and Buddy had been searching the desert for awhile before the came upon a shack just on the edge of the sand storm. There were several of these shacks in the Bikanel Desert that served as a small protection against such storms. They hopped off of their hover crafts, ready to investigate when they saw bright light flash through the loose wood walls and the one window. The light then disappeared and then shot through the roof, wood blasting in all directions.

With out a doubt, Gippal knew that Rikku was in there with the box- the box that had just been opened. Gippal, Buddy, and Brother raced toward the shack and swung open the door. Westaire stood in the back and Rikku and another man stood in the center of the room.

The man smiled maliciously at them. Rikku stared at them in shock.

"You're too late," the man said and with that he pushed his hand inside of the box, his hand becoming consumed by the fury light.

They all watched as he pulled out a big sphere of light and swallowed it. He screamed, his head jerking back. His body dissipated into light and then took the form of a huge fiend.

Suddenly the sand storm hit them, knocking them all to the ground as the shack disbanded back to individual wooden boards. The fiend grew to match the height of a two story building and roared. It was free and more powerful than ever. It was ready to pray upon the living.

(A/N: Before I forget like I've done on so many of my other chapters I would like to thank all who have reviewed my story, I apologize for not noting so earlier. Me and my forgetfulness. It would have been longer but I wanted to give you this as soon as I could. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!)


	9. Battle Time

Rikku could hardly believe her eyes when the door burst open to reveal Gippal, Buddy and Brother in weird orange suits and sweet hover crafts just outside.

_About time_, she thought but her triumph was short lived as she saw Slade swallow (?) the pyreflies that were in the box and turned into a big scary fiend.

She fell to the ground as the sand storm hit not a moment to soon as she gazed up at the lizard-like fiend. It was big and green with scales and a gold sunlit belly. Huge silver claws glittered in the light as it (she couldn't really call it Slade anymore) reared on to its hind legs. A lizard-like tongue along with sharp white fangs was exposed as it made a high-pitched screech. Rikku clamped her hand over her ears and tried to make her way toward Gippal and the others but the sand storm was too strong and she couldn't open her eyes to see and the wind pushed her back down into the sand.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal looked around as he pulled himself up from the sand that he had just been smashed down into by the storm. He saw Rikku stumbling towards them blindly and hurriedly made his way over to her. He forced a pair of goggles and a mask into her hands. She gratefully put them on and smiled up at him.

"You alright?" he yelled above the wind.

"All this and that's all you can say? What took you so long?" she shouted back.

Suddenly a shriek from the fiend pulled them back to their dilemma.

"You ready?" he asked her.

She nodded, her face set.

"Let's do this!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku was surprised to see Gippal pull off her thief knives (A/N: I have no idea what to call it but it's the weapons she uses with her thief dress sphere.) from his belt and giving it to her.

"You might need these."

"I'm gonna whack you good!" Rikku cried and dashed toward the fiend ready to fight.

The battle had now commenced.

Buddy and Brother were trying their best to fight 'Shade' though Brother was so bad at combat he might as well have been doing nothing. To Rikku's growing respect of Buddy, he was doing fairly well. Suddenly she noticed a pile of wood that had once been the shack. Westaire was lying underneath it. Brother seemed to see her and shook his head.

"He's okay, don't worry about him. Help us fight this guy already! AARRGG!" he said as he threw something useless at Shade.

Gippal them came into the frenzy and shot some cool acid beams from a gadget from his suit.

_I want one of those suits,_ Rikku thought but quickly turned her attention back onto Shade.

The more they tried to fight Shade, Rikku found that his new transformation made him slow and somewhat clumsy so Rikku could easily dodge his attacks. However, the harsh sand and wind from the storm didn't make anything easier for anyone. To Rikku dismay and tiredness she realized that their attacks created minimal damage if any at all. Would they be able to make it?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gippal dodged another swipe from the fiend's huge claws and shot at the creature again. How long they had been fighting he wasn't quite sure but he was starting to get tired. Everyone was. Gippal tried every kind of weapon he had with him, knives, bullets, his own fists, but the fiend was incredibly strong and he was running out of ideas.

The fiend roared and stomped his feet, sending more sand flying about them. Gippal took cover behind the rabble of the shack. Rikku seemed to have the same thought because she came sliding next to him a couple of seconds later.

"We-we need a better plan. Noth-nothings work-ing," she said between gulping for air.

"Got any ideas?" he asked.

"Not…really."

Suddenly the fiend bent down and clawed at their hiding place, exposing them to his attacks again.

Rikku groaned and hastily tried to get back up. Her feet slipped and plumped back down. This time however, she landed on Gippal's right leg so that Gippal couldn't get up.

"Rikku, watch it!" Gippal scolded.

"Excuse me!" She said but still made no movement to get up as she looked at his boots.

Suddenly he could feel the fiend bend down. The hair on the back of Gippal's neck rose as he felt the fiend's hot breath brush his hair.

"Rikku move it! Now!" He ordered as he began to panic. Despite Rikku still on him, he tried to stand up.

"Hey what does this do?" Rikku asked, and Gippal saw her still eyeing something on his shoe.

"Rikku, I don't know." He said impatiently. "Now get off or we'll be dead meat. Hey, Rikku…don't touch that!"

Too late.

Rikku had pressed down on whatever was on his right shoe. Suddenly his right leg shot up into the air and Rikku rolled to the ground next to them. His boot had some type of fuel that enabled his boot to fly.

_Great, _Gippal thought as his right leg rose higher and higher into the air so that Gippal was soon hanging upside down with nothing but two feet of air between him and the ground. The fiend was no longer pay attention to Rikku on the ground but began swatting at Gippal as he hung in the air.

"Hey, stop that! Rikku help me!" Gippal said as he tried to think of some way to get back down.

"That's sooooo cool! Gippal, try hitting on your other shoe, then you can fly circles around it!' Rikku said.

Trying not to get hit in the process, Gippal tried to get a hold of his shoe and press the button. It took a couple of tries because his already rocket boot was starting to have a mind of its own and kept thrashing Gippal about. Well, now that he thought of it, it was probably a good thing considering the fiend was still trying to grab him. Finally he managed to activate the boot. Hoisting himself into an upright position, Gippal began flying in circles around the fiend. The fiend tried to turn with Gippal, to snatch at him but his big slow body made it difficult to keep up. Agitated, it stopped and roared.

"Gippal!" Rikku called up too him who had been watching the scene with an amused face. "I have an idea! Do you have any rope?"

"Hold on, if I do, I think I know what you have in mind." Gippal told her and searched his pockets. Luckily there was some rope.

_Now, if I can just get this rope around this fiend's legs, hopefully I'll be able to trip it and send to the ground._ Gippal thought. _Its neck is probably its softest spot so while it's on the ground, we could attack that, and hopefully we'll be able to defeat it…_

Maybe they could defeat it after all...

(A/N: Yes people, I am still alive! Sorry it took me awhile to write this chapter. I had half of it done so long ago and then I never got around to finishing it. I _hate _writing battle scenes and I've been well, lazy. If anyone has any suggestions to writing good fight scenes, I would appreciate any tips! Hope this chapter wasn't too short, it's really hard to tell on this thing. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and thanks to all who read this and reviewed. It means so much to me! Hopefully, I'll finish writing the next chapter faster; this month has just been so crazy! Excuses, excuses, I know but please review!)


	10. To the Limit

Still flying around the fiend, Gippal fixed the rope into a giant loop; hopefully it would fit over the lizard's massive body.

"Rikku try to distract him! If I can get him to trip, it'll be easier to defeat him on a lower level." Gippal shouted down below to her.

"Leave it to me!" Rikku responded and dashed around in the sand.

"Hey, you big meanie! Ya you, look over here!" Rikku yelled at the lizard.

Just like Gippal wanted, the fiend turned its great body around to face away from him and towards Rikku. It lashed out one of his claws and Rikku dodged. Taking his eyes off of Rikku, Gippal started to do his part of the fight. Swinging the rope, Gippal began to lasso the lizard. Unfortunately, the fiend was as stupid as Gippal thought. As soon as the lizard felt the rope round its neck, its attention jolted away from Rikku. It threw it arms up, as if to try to get the rope off. However, the lizard's short arms couldn't reach the rope. Frustrated, it began to thrash around, dragging Gippal, who still needed to hang onto the rope, with it.

_This was defiantly not turning out the way I had planned it would. As much as I want to I don't think I can bring down a giant lizard all by myself…_Gippal thought as he felt like he was getting wiped lashed through the air.

"Gippal, dear Yevon, are you okay?" Rikku shouted up to him but he couldn't quite answer, there were too many things to think about.

He didn't want to let go of the rope, it may just do something to that blasted fiend. He could let go but this was all he had left to fight with besides a tiny knife. And what good would that do, its skin was way too thick. If he couldn't make this work somehow they'd have to make a run for it through the storm, but that didn't seem like a better solution. Rikku…how could he save her?

His fumbling thoughts of escaped were interrupted as the lizard made a wide twist and Gippal flew around, the wind blasting in his face.

"Gippal! Let go!" he could hear Rikku yell.

_What an idiot I must look like right now_, Gippal thought.

Suddenly the fiend made some odd maneuver that caused the rope to pull and send Gippal flying-landing on the fiend's back.

A little disoriented by the impact, Gippal could only think of one thing to do. He grabbed the last knife he had and dug it into the lizard's neck, blood squirting down onto his face.

The fiend roared and tried to bend its arms backwards to reach him or the knife-Gippal wasn't really sure. That gave Gippal time to let go of the rope, however, and slide down the lizard's back as it wasn't moving. He jumped off the tail and Rikku ran to meet him.

"You alright?" Gippal asked, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking deep into her eyes.

"Am I alright? What about you? You were being flung about like unwanted machine! You-" Rikku was cut short as the fiend turned to face them-sharp fangs bared with a blood shot stare.

Rikku turned to stare at Gippal with fearful eyes but Gippal had nothing to help her. He couldn't think of any way they were going to get out of this-alive anyways. Gippal looked down at Rikku- his whole life staring him in the face. Quickly he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her hard.

She pulled back, a confused expression on her face. "What…?"

"I love you," he said, knowing that he had to say it if they didn't make it out of this alive.

"We'll have to brave the storm-maybe we can make it," he said but he knew he didn't sound convincing.

"What about the others?" Rikku asked frantically as Gippal grabbed her hand and they began to pump their legs into a run but already he felt tired and breathless.

"The fiend is only interested in us unfortunately at the moment. They'll be safe out here," Gippal replied. "Hopefully…"

The lizard was right on their heels as they continued to push forward. Gippal, Rikku, and even the lizard would fall as they forced their way through the grimy sand. Suddenly the fiend tripped again, giving them more time to increase the distance between them. It was short lived however when Rikku stumbled moments later.

"C'mon, Rikku, we have to keep going," Gippal managed to spit out.

Rikku nodded but he could see she couldn't last much longer. His mind raced for a solution out of this hell but nothing came. The wind ripped at their face and clothes, their feet sunk into the sand so that they moved like slugs across the terrain, and the fiend would not give up.

They ran but it wasn't much longer before Gippal fell into the sand.

He couldn't go another step as much as he hated to admit it but Rikku had to get away. That was all that mattered to him…

"Rikku…keep go-going…" Gippal gasped out but she tugged at his arm to get him back on his feet.

"You stubborn---, I'm no-not going to leave you!" Rikku argued. He could hear the fiend getting up and making its way toward them.

"You don't have time-go!" Gippal commanded but she wouldn't give. "Your father would kill me-enough has happened to you already." He tried to smirk. "Cid's girl can't you give a man his last request-for you to get away safely.

"That's stupid! Pops can't kill you if you're already dead!" she sobbed

"Go!" He cried as he felt the ground shake- the fiend was gaining.

She gave up on him. With one last look and a soft kiss on the lips she said "I love you too."

Tears in her eyes, she turned her back on him and ran.

He watched her go and could hear the rumblings of the fiend behind him. He closed his eyes and waited for the suffering to end.

It didn't come. He waited and opened his eyes. Rikku had turned around and was staring wide-eyed at him, the wind whipping her hair.

Gippal looked up at the fiend. The lizard was bent over him but suddenly swayed. Its eyes rolled and just as Gippal realized what was about to happen, he couldn't move.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku ran but two second later she had to turn around. She just couldn't leave Gippal behind. She turned but only just in time to see the fiend hovering over Gippal, ready to take him. She stumbled, legs weak she took a step forward. Gippal looked up and their eyes locked for a second-a moment she would never forger.

Suddenly the fiend swayed and crashed forward as her worse nightmare unfolded. The horrible lizard fell, landing onto of Gippal's body.

Rikku screamed, or what would have been a scream if she had enough air or moister in her mouth. She sunk to her knees. At that moment she was too weak to reach Gippal or too scared to see the outcome.

Wiping tears furiously from her face, she pushed her legs to reach the fallen pair. Somehow she saw that Gippal's feet had been the only thing trampled underneath the lizard's claw. She sobbed as she desperately tried to pull Gippal out whose upper half of his body looked far too peaceful.

Was he unconscious or worse dead? She couldn't tell but he wouldn't wake and if there was a pulse, it was too weak to recognize. After everything, why had she left him? When it was all her fault to begin with?

Finally his legs came free from under the claw. There was a huge gash in his crushed left leg and his right was bent at an awkward angle. Rikku cradled him in her arms, rocking back and forth as she cried.

Silence was the only thing left with he. The storm had finally died down. She looked up at Shade-now a horrible dead fiend. The knife in his neck that Gippal had implanted had sunk deep into the tough skin and the wind had managed to pull the knife to tear a larger gash to the left side of the initial wound.

"You got what you deserved!" she hoarsely cried but some triumph, some victory she had.

"Gippal…" she whimpered softly. She didn't care about anything else but him. She wanted Gippal to be okay, for none of this to have happened, but knew she couldn't change it. All she could do was wait. For what, she didn't know.

(A/N: Will Gippal be okay? How will Rikku pull through? The next chapter's going to be interesting so don't miss it! Again, sorry about the wait. I would have had this up last week but things came up. I've started writing the next chapter so hopefully I'll have it up by next week if I'm lucky. And I hoped you liked this chapter, although it wasn't particularly happy. Sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, I didn't really have time to edit. Please review, it means a lot to me and I love to hear what you have to say. Thanks!)


	11. Recovery

Rikku didn't know how long she sat there in the sand or what she had really been doing as she sat there-everything had just become a blur. She felt like she was in some fantasy world so isolated from reality. Gippal didn't move, nor did the ghastly fiend. Shade, may he burn in the farplane.

Slowly, Rikku became aware of the setting sun, her aching body, how dirty and alone she felt, and the sound of a distant humming motor.

Gradually, the sound grew louder, stopped and she heard a distant mumble of voices, but she couldn't quite bring herself to care until she felt a hand resting on her shoulder. She turned her head and looked up to see Paine's crimson eyes staring into hers. A tear escaped Rikku's eyes, sliding down her cheek. Finally it hit her-it was all over, she would live to see tomorrow, she was safe.

"You really had us worried," Paine said stiffly but Rikku could hear the sincerity in her voice.

Suddenly Yuna was by Paine side. "Oh, you're okay!...oh," Yuna voice drifted as she saw Gippal lying in Rikku's lap.

A moment of emptiness passed and then two workers from the fraction came up, followed by her father.

"Come on, Rikku, can you stand? Larif, Chac, why don't you take Gippal and see how to treat him," Cid said.

Rikku couldn't bring herself to ask how Gippal would be as his weight was lifted away from her and she stood up. Her father wrapped his arms around her and she was sure she saw a tear, showing her how much he cared for her. Rikku couldn't cry anymore though, she was spent.

"Where's your brother? Buddy? Are they okay?" He asked after a moment.

Rikku nodded. "I think so…" she managed to say and her voice cracked and shook a little. "They're down there…Westaire too," Rikku said and pointed to the small spic that was the heap of the broken pieces of the cabin.

Cid squeezed her tight. "Gippal will make it out of this, don't worry. You're okay. Let's get you home." Cid managed to say reassuringly though it sounded strange with his gruff voice.

Rikku nodded and Paine and Yuna led her to the hover craft.

The ride back to the Bikanel camp site was hazy. She might have fallen asleep but Rikku couldn't quite remember. The only thing she could recall was Yuna and Paine taking her to a healing room and falling into a soft comfortable bed.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rikku opened her eyes, bright light shinning in her face. Quickly she closed her eyes. Blackness welcomed her and she absorbed it. She couldn't live with the morning; too much had happened in the night. Drained, physically and mentally, she couldn't bring herself to face any unwanted outcomes.

Was Gippal still okay? How were Brother and Buddy? All she knew was that she was tired and ached all over.

She opened her eyes again as she hear a door being slowly opened. Yuna's shuffling feet reached the bed Rikku was lying on. Rikku stared into Yuna's eyes, too many emotions flying in her blue-green eyes.

"Rikku, I'm so glad you're safe. It'll take awhile, but I know you're going to feel so much better soon. I am so relieved it's all over." Yuna told Rikku, tears in her eyes.

Rikku sat there for a moment. Gippal was the only thing she could think about but couldn't bring herself to ask. She opened and closed her mouth trying to get the words out but unable to. Yuna seemed to understand.

"Gippal is still alright. His legs were severely damaged so he probably won't be able to walk for awhile but with some healing, he'll be back to himself in no time. Right now though, he's still sleeping.

"I want to go see him." Rikku demanded.

Yuna looked conflicted at the idea. "Rikku, you've been through so much, and we don't even know half of it. You need to rest and heal, that's what Gippal would want. Gippal's not even awake yet and he going to recover. You'll have plenty of time to be with him."

Rikku faced crumbled and tears swelled in her eyes as everything from the day before came back.

"Yunie, it was _so hard_," Rikku bawled.

Yunie rushed over to Rikku and wrapped her arms around her as Rikku cried.

"Rikku…why don't you tell me everything," Yuna suggested in a soft soothing voice. "I think it'll help."

Rikku nodded and after several attempts to explain without bursting into tears that she was incoherent, she began…

(A/N: I know this is a really short chapter and not much happened but I wanted to get something up this week because that was what I had planned. Next chapter, I'll wrap it up and then I'll be finished. I hope you liked everything, review and tell me what you think! Thanks to everyone that has read my story and those that have reviewed.)


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